Look ahead to Portland Thorns

plus tons of TST, USWNT and USL super league news!

Hello Courage Country! We’re gearing up for another away match, this time against a very different Portland Thorns team than the one we beat earlier this season.

The USWNT won two friendlies, with two more next month before heading to the Paris Olympics.

Exciting stuff, so here we go!

Look ahead: Courage v. Portland Thorns

When we last faced the Portland Thorns on April 13, we posted a 2-0 victory against them. Portland was struggling with its worst start in franchise history.

Three days later, the Thorns announced head coach Mike Norris would take a new technical role focused on scouting, acquisition and player development. Rob Gale was named interim head coach, with the team planning an international search for a permanent replacement.

And … now Gale is likely a strong contender for the job. Portland immediately went on a six-game winning streak. The team climbed from the bottom of the table to third place, before falling last week in an away match against Orlando. Portland is ranked 4th now.

Last month, Shane Hoffman published a terrific profile of Gale in OregonLive (subscription required, but you can get a free 7-day trial without a credit card and read the article). In just over a year, he’s had to deal with acclimating to life on the West Coast after moving from New York; cancer treatments; and now stepping unexpectedly into this role as head coach midseason.

Gale has earned serious player buy-in. And, as you know from our previous coverage, the Thorns have a lot of young talent that Gale seems uniquely able to motivate. It’s also hard to draw tactical conclusions from the Orlando matchup, considering Barbra Banda scored two first-half goals against the Thorns.

In short, between our away match struggles and Portland’s resurgence, we’ll have to be in top form to win this match.

Courage news and updates

  • Defender Kaleigh Kurtz has now set the NWSL record for number of consecutive minutes played, an incredible achievement. She gave a classy shout-out to Chicago’s Sam Staab on X:

Around the league and beyond

That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

– Trevor

Next match: Saturday, June 8, 10:00 pm ET

North Carolina Courage v. Portland Thorns

Away

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